Tuolumne River, 2008.

Photo by Tim Stroshane.

C-WIN's board of directors and staff include individuals with long histories of activism and a deep knowledge of the history and the policies that make up California's water landscape. They bring nearly 80 years of experience, dedication, and the vital knowledge necessary to achieve a sustainable water future.

Officers:

• Carolee Krieger, President
• Joan Hartmann, Secretary
• Jim Edmondson, Treasurer

Directors:

• Malinda & Yvon Chouinard
• Huey Johnson
• Michael B. Jackson
• Tom Stokely (also C-WIN water policy coordinator)
• Nick Di Croce

Staff consultant:

• Tim Stroshane

Carolee Krieger, President, founded C-WIN in 2001. She helped lead the campaign to prevent delivery of State Water Project water to Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties. On behalf of the Citizens Planning Association (CPA), Carolee also led the fight against the Monterey Amendments to the State Water Project contracts. She brings to C-WIN her passion for protecting public trust resources and stopping wasteful use of water in California.

Joan Hartmann, Secretary, J.D., Ph.D. has worked as a college teacher (Claremont Colleges, Oberlin College, USC) and in the federal government (Congressional Research Service; U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Secretary; US EPA Region 3).  She has also worked for environmental non-profits and for the State of California.  She was a founding organizer of the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project and continues to serve as an advisor.  She also participated for several years on the Trinity River Adaptive Management Working Group.  She is a founder of the community group, Buellton Is Our Town, that passed the first Urban Growth Boundary initiative in Santa Barbara County (November 2008) and is a contributing writer to the Community Matters column of the Santa Ynez Valley Journal.

Jim Edmondson, Treasurer, who was an entrepreneur for many years, became Executive Director of California Trout 25 years ago, having recently retired from this environmental leadership role. He is best remembered for his work on the Mono Lake lawsuit that led to the restoration of water levels in this natural wonder. Jim brings to C-WIN his exceptional business skills, and his passion for protecting and restoring fisheries throughout California.

Malinda & Yvon Chouinard, directors, are founders and owners of Patagonia, a manufacturer of outdoor clothing. Patagonia is world famous for its outstanding record of environmental sensitivity in all of its production methods, and for donating 1 percent of sales to support many environmental causes. They provided seed money to start the California Water Impact Network. The Chouinards bring to C-WIN their business acumen and their commitment to ecological sustainability.

Huey Johnson, director, is an internationally distinguished environmentalist who served as California’s Secretary of Resources in Governor Jerry Brown’s cabinet. He is a practical visionary who believes that the ecological dilemmas before us are fundamentally solvable. He served as the Western Regional Director for the Nature Conservancy. In 1972, he founded the national, nonprofit Trust for Public Lands, which has protected more than 1.4 million acres in 45 states and has grown to be America’s fifth largest environmental organization. He brings many years of hands-on public and non-profit sector experience and is primed for action to solve California’s water problems.

Michael B. Jackson, director, is a rural Northern California water lawyer-activist who has served as water counsel to the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), the Regional Council of Rural Counties (RCRC), and numerous other governmental and environmental entities. On behalf of fish and wildlife interests, he has taken part in numerous State Water Resource Control Board hearings involving most of California’s rivers and streams. He is knowledgeable about watershed management, groundwater, forests, public lands, and politics in both the Republican and Democratic parties at the local, state, and federal levels. Mike combines for C-WIN his leadership and political skills with his copious grasp of California water and environmental law to lead our efforts.

Tom Stokely, director and water policy coordinator, recently retired from the Natural Resources Division of the Trinity County Planning Department where he worked on Trinity River and Central Valley Project salmon and steelhead issues since 1989. Tom continues working to restore the Trinity River’s salmon and steelhead fisheries, as well as fisheries throughout California. He has provided expert witness testimony in water rights hearings before the State Water Resources Control Board. Tom serves on various advisory committees on salmon and steelhead trout, and also serves on the committee advising the California Department of Water Resources on allocating grant funds for groundwater investigations and monitoring. He combines for C-WIN his extensive water law and legislative expertise with his passion for fishery and river restoration goals.

Nick Di Croce, director, was a member of the Public Advisory Committee for the 2005 State Water Plan. Over the span of his environmental activism he is also a former board member of California Trout and was heavily involved in CALFED issues. Nick recently authored the Environmental Water Caucus 2009 report, “California Water Solutions Now.”

Tim Stroshane, senior research associate, joined the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) in 2008. A Bay Area urban planner since 1988, he took up free-lancing on California water issues in 1998 before launching in 2000 his newsletter, SPILLWAY, to address California water and development issues (http://www.spillwaynews.net/). Through SPILLWAY he associated with members of C-WIN to cover paper water issues, CalFED and Delta water politics, court decisions on water, and water markets.He brings to C-WIN his extensive knowledge of California water history, law and politics, and his organizational skills, to help build the Network at a critical time.